After the Half: Google’s Super Bowl Commercial

People are buzzing about the probability that Google will have a commercial during the Super Bowl. Search Engine Land reports that as “long ago” as 2007 Google considered a Super Bowl ad but decided against it. Now, after halftime we’ll likely see an ad for Google that many are speculating will be from its existing “Search Stories” videos.

Here’s one that some anticipate will be the ad:

Here’s the Twitter post from Google CEO Eric Schmidt that began the frenzy, suggesting that Hell hath frozen (not hard to believe given the storms on the East Coast) and that a commercial for the company is coming later today:

Danny Sullivan at SEL speculates that the ad may be a response to Bing’s initial success:

This pretty much confirms that Google is absolutely feeling the pressure from Bing. The company has never, ever seriously advertised its core search offerings before in this manner.

When I first saw the discussion of the Twitter comment above I thought it might be an ad for the Nexus One. Regardless of what the ad specifically promotes it’s very interesting that Google is doing it.

What if the ad were for — and it’s not likely to be — the Local Business Center or Local Listing Ads? Imagine that, eh?

We don’t have to “imagine it” we can watch it:

What may be much more interesting than the content of this particular ad is that it may signal Google is ready to do some traditional advertising around key products or services — or more precisely “media buying,” because with all the YouTube videos Google is advertising most of its products now. This is something that I’ve suggested to the company for several years. I’m by no means alone in this of course.

Many of Google’s products that previously underperformed (e.g., Checkout) might have been boosted tremendously by some good ol’ fashioned TV or newspaper advertising. However if Google does begin to advertise more it’s going to be very selective about it I’m sure.